Very interesting post! I have always had 'segmented sleep', as did my father. We use it to quietly read in bed. However, my mother, who used sleeping pills, thought it was unnatural and tried to feed me sleeping pills from childhood onwards, to 'help' me get a full night's sleep! Thank God I could be disobedient at times...

Do you eat low-carb? The same happened to me on low carb autoimmune Paleo. As with Bruno, consistent Peat eating helped me. Only high starch (not fruit) helped some, but not as much as adding fruits and more diary.

My sleep didn't improve either, until I used Ray Peat's principles. Since eating loads of fruit, taking a bit more calcium and eating lots of gelatin I wake up not more than once, immediately fall asleep again and always get up between 7 and 8 am (used to be after 9). Magnesium doesn't do that much for me.

@Louisa -- I am not convinced that the bi-modal sleeping pattern is actually natural, healthy or desirable. Take a look at Seth Robert's take on the matter here: http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2010/07/24/whats-natural-sleep-more/

I admit that I am surprised you could come and post on PaleoHacks after finding that the diet didn't work out for you. This is also a valuable chance for us to learn why it didn't work, if you'll share more details with us. What were you eating, and how much?

I wouldn't say it's worse -- but it certainly hasn't gotten any BETTER. I usually have trouble falling asleep, and then wake 5-6 times a night. Frustrating how so many people seem to find the paleo diet vastly improves their sleep. I'm interested to see what others have to say on this.

17
Answers

This pattern of sleep is called 'bimodal' or segmented sleep - this way of sleeping has been documented as the 'normal' sleep pattern of pre-industrialized societies, i.e. before electric lighting was invented. Typically, the body reverts to it after a week or so of going to bed when it gets dark and sleeping in pitch black all night (except for the three nights around the full moon).

Although it has not been documented, a paleo/primal diet may also help move the body back into a segmented sleeping pattern and you may find that this is what your body is trying to do, although, 4.30 a.m. sounds as if it is not quite there yet.

Bimodal sleep is composed of two
periods of sleep during the night,
with a wakeful (or half wakeful) hour
or two in the middle. In medieval
England, the first (or dead) sleep and
the second (or morning) sleep was
well-known and the wakefulness in
between (named dorveille ??? meaning
???twixt sleep and wake ??? in French) was
highly valued for its meditative and
semi-dreamstate qualities. This was
the time of quiet conversation,
love-making or dream interpretation
and soothsaying; a period of deep
contemplation that we, with our
electric lighting and 24-hour lives
have all but lost.

Until the modern era, up to an hour or
more of quiet wakefulness midway
through the night interrupted the rest
of most Western Europeans, not just
napping shepherds and slumbering
woodsmen. Families rose from their
beds to urinate, smoke tobacco, and
even visit close neighbors. Remaining
abed, many persons also made love,
prayed, and, most important, reflected
on the dreams that typically preceded
waking from their ???first sleep.??? Not
only were these visions unusually
vivid, but their images would have
intruded far less on conscious thought
had sleepers not stirred until dawn......
......In
addition to suggesting that
consolidated sleep, such as we today
experience, is unnatural, segmented
slumber afforded the unconscious an
expanded avenue to the waking world
that has remained closed for most of
the Industrial Age.

So, to answer your question, you maybe feeling that you are not sleeping so well, but you should not feel any worse the wear for it, your body is probably trying to get back into its natural rhythm of two 'sleeps' per night, but - if you are still using electric lighting in the evening - cannot quite manage it. I would suggest using candlelight after dark, if it is at all possible, F.lux on your computer or just go to bed and wake earlier....(there is another paleohacks post about this subject) in fact, you will find that this maybe a chance to use a couple of hours during the night for meditation or something similar ;)

Here is another fascinating account of hunter/gatherer sleeping habits; studies on segmented sleep are cited in the last section (with this quotation from psychiatrist Thomas A. Wehr of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Md. who conducted the studies in 1993: "A natural human sleep pattern may reassert itself in an unwelcome world and get labeled as a disorder").

@Louisa -- I am not convinced that the bi-modal sleeping pattern is actually natural, healthy or desirable. Take a look at Seth Robert's take on the matter here: http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2010/07/24/whats-natural-sleep-more/

Very interesting post! I have always had 'segmented sleep', as did my father. We use it to quietly read in bed. However, my mother, who used sleeping pills, thought it was unnatural and tried to feed me sleeping pills from childhood onwards, to 'help' me get a full night's sleep! Thank God I could be disobedient at times...

I understand what you mean. I read Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival and it lead me to going to bed within an hour of sundown.

After several weeks, I began to wake during the night, but always fell back to sleep rather easily after some time passed. Now I routinely wake up at sunrise.

I believe the answer by Louisa to be true. I get a net sleep of around 9 to 10 hours, awake in the night maybe an hour or two, but feel great during the day. I begin to get tired after sundown if I cut the electricity after dark.

Interesting. My sleep has massively improved on Paleo. It was, I think, cutting out the wheat/gluten that did it for me. Pre-paleo I used to have racing thoughts and could not fall asleep until 4am -- now I can actually lay down fall asleep around 10pm and wake up at 7am.

I used to be a very sound sleeper and now I wake up a lot during the night....its a very restless sleep. However, I wake up easier (without an alarm) and don't feel tired at all. I fall asleep around 10-10:30 and usually sleep soundly for 2-3 hours. I then toss and turn a lot until I wake up around 6:30. Again, I actually feel much more awake though.

I have always slept very good, before and after going paleo. But a few months ago my sleep pattern changed (subjectively it felt worse) and I generally felt a bit less (that's a bit less that superb though).

After thinking for a while I thought it could be to the cod-liver oil I recently started taking, and maybe a bit too much, especially because I probably already had a good Vit A intake (butter). I stopped taking the CLO, and my sleep returned.

As always, with these little selfexperiments, it is dangerous to be fooled by randomness, or be fooled by other factors that are unknown...

Not exactly but you
can say it has really helped in improving my sleep. I don’t feel tired now. Paleo
Diet has helped me in reducing inflammation within the body as a result of
eliminating grains, sugar processed food etc. Also adopting fresh fruits healthy
fats, meats with moderate nuts. Naturally occurring food by adopting paleo diet
has helped me in preventing sleep apnea.

This may be due to high intensity workout or exercise you may be doing. High intensity workout is a form of stress. During stress adrenal stress hormones and neurotransmitters get off their Circadian rythyms. This causes Cortisol to rises when it should actually fall which messes up the sleep cycle.

User this is an old post but I'm wondering if anyone is still having sleep problems. I am 2 months in to my paleo eating and waking early (3-4, occasionally even 1-2) has been happening almost every night. Sometimes I can't go back to sleep for several hours and once in a while not at all! Unfortunately, I suffer through the day for it. I feel tired! Anyone else with this trouble?

Insomnia is the main reason why I decided to quit the Paleo/Primal Diet after 3 months. There were many other reasons, but after a 2 week run of insomnia recently, I decided to add starches, grains, and legumes back to my diet. I've been sleeping like a baby ever since and feeling more energetic. By the way, I'm 5 feet 6 inches and 125 pounds. I am not out of shape nor am I unhealthy, but I was starting to get that way on the Paleo Diet. Restrictive diets/fad diets never live up to their hype. Oops, sorry guys, Paleo/Primal isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle, right?

I admit that I am surprised you could come and post on PaleoHacks after finding that the diet didn't work out for you. This is also a valuable chance for us to learn why it didn't work, if you'll share more details with us. What were you eating, and how much?

This has been my experience too. I sleep deeply for a few hours and wake up in the mid-morning always. Thenceforth, I have light sleep replete with non-REM dreams (they feel more like day dreams and are not like living an experience, which is how REM dreams feel for me). Very interested in the bimodal sleep idea presented above...

I am fine with my reduced sleep since I feel more rested than I did before, even though I estimate I am getting only 3-4 hours of deep sleep and 2-3 hours of light sleep per night, with an average of about 6 total hours of sleep per night. I sleep in pitch blackness and give myself about 8-9 hours to rest, though, as stated, I cant seem to use it all.

I've found that from losing much weight (I'm right around the 30 lb. mark) since starting Paleo and exercising, my snoring has dropped off to being non-existant. So not only do I sleep better, so does my wife. :)

Since years paleo my sleep depends totally on sunlight. Means in winter more and summer less time in bed. Also sleep deepness is less in summer. Which means often tired around 10pm, wake ups at 2am and absolutely wide awaken by 4am. Heavy disturbances with full moon. As long one awakes refreshed I would not worry about. It´s just primeval.